My favorite websites: A content analysis

In this post, I will analyze the content of a digital portfolio, a nontraditional news site and a website with content I like. The following three websites contain good content and visually appealing design. Editing Portfolio In the editing field, I like Louise Harnby's portfolio. She is a freelance proofreader and copyeditor and she allows authors …

Project 1 Reflection

I'm most proud of how my story turned out. I usually have a hard time starting to write and getting the juices flowing, but this story seemed to flow really easily for me. This is most likely because diversity in young adult literature, and young adult literature in general, is something I am passionate about. …

The importance of embracing diversity in young adult literature

Diversity in young adult literature has been slow to emerge, said Jennifer Buehler, who has a doctorate in English and education and has been teaching YA Literature at Saint Louis University for 10 years. Why the sluggish pace? Since the U.S. is a diverse nation with many different ethnic backgrounds, it seems like more of …

Timeline of diversity in young adult literature shows a slow start

The following infographic depicts the diversity found in the beginning decades of young adult literature, a genre that many believe started with the publishing of "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton in 1967. This timeline focuses on diversity in young adult literature by highlighting important works and events that were thought to show genuine diversity …

Achieving optimal engagement on Twitter

When I looked at my three most popular tweets, based on engagement, I found that they all had a few things in common. My top three tweets all include photos and relevant hashtags. Research has shown that these tactics are some of the best practices on Twitter, which explains why these tweets gave me higher …

Successful data visualization projects

"National Geographic" has recently started a "Planet or Plastic?" series online, where they post stories, infographics, videos and more about the toll of plastic use on the environment. One such infographic, titled "What Happens to the Plastic We Throw Out?," shows exactly what the title would suggest. This infographic presents relevant and interesting information in …

Five tips to avoid copyright infringement

In this digital age where information can be copied and pasted at the click of a button, it is easy to forget about copyright law when you use photos and ideas that other people created.  According to Christina Newberry, copyright is the laws and rules that define ownership of creative works and how those works …

Mini project reflection

I'm most proud of how my photos turned out for this project. I am by no means a photographer, so I was pleasantly surprised with the photos I took. One of the challenges I found was deciding which photos to take that would provide a good amount of variety. Since the places I visited were …

Books on budget: STL edition

If you’re like me and you love to read but hate to buy full-price books, despair no more! Below are my tips and tricks for getting a hold of great books on a budget in the St. Louis area, including the best places to find them. Read on to keeping reading on! * The Library …

Twitter analytics reflection

My Twitter analytics report shows that my top tweets, in general, are the ones that contain hashtags and tagged people in them. I notice that the tweets I sent during BookFest were in the top three for the most retweets, hashtag clicks, media views, likes, and engagement. To me, this means that big events that …